Eight members of MECR traveled to DC for Occupy AIPEC. W had a great workshop on Saturday with up to 400 people. The demonstration at AIPEC on Sunday was smaller. We were out at 7:00 am when participants were making their way into the convention center. We could have used more people because it was a very effective time to engage those attending the AIPAC event.

Great poster about Obama and AIPAC.

Larger than life political con artist.

Celebrating at Busboys and Poets Saturday night.

Against the Wall: The Art of Resistance in Palestine

-We had about 30 people at this event. Mostly members of MECR, although there were about 5 new people who sat and watched at least some of the presentation. Will Parry gave an amazing talk, and his analysis of the wall art adds another layer to our understanding of how apartheid works in the West Bank. 

Potluck at Pia's House

15 of us gathered at Pia's house for a potluck and a political discussion about Israel/Palestine. Many in the group have visited Israel, the occupied West Bank, Jordan and Egypt. We talked about our individual motivations as well as our commitment to bringing human rights to all peoples in the Middle East. A fine night of good food and lively conversation.

We want to hold these potlucks monthly as a way to consider broader issues and to build group solidarity. 

Local activist Gale McGovern dies

By Anne Pyburn 1/11/12 - 11:42 am
http://www.watershedpost.com/2012/local-activist-gale-mcgovern-dies

Gale McGovern, 1938-2011 Prominent activist Gale McGovern, who played a leading role in dozens of Hudson Valley causes and campaigns, died suddenly on Tuesday, December 27 at her home in Olivebridge. She was 73.

An obituary published recently by the Mid-Hudson News recounts her early activism in the 1960s:

The sixties were just beginning, and McGovern embraced them with zest and a fierce intellect, working on Bella Abzug's first congressional campaign, protesting Vietnam, and becoming a driving force in both the Gay Activists Alliance and the Daughters of Bilitis.

“We specialized in 'zaps',” recounts McGovern in a resume she wrote several years ago, “fun and imaginative political actions...We occupied the offices of Harper's Magazine for a full day.

After moving from New York City to Ulster County in the early 1980s, McGovern founded and led W.E.B (Women Escaping Batterers) the Coalition for Lesbian and Gay Youth, the Coalition for an Ulster County Human Rights Law, Friends of Comadres, People Against Racism, the Ulster County Global Warming Project and People for Medical Secularity. Her organizations, and others she supported, played roles in the Kingston Hospital merger, the New Paltz gay weddings of 2004, the preservation of the Rosendale Theatre and dozens of issues, local and national. Her winning lawsuit against the Town of New Paltz sought no money, but resulted in the town court being made handicapped accessible.

But it may have been her unclassifiable activities that made her so memorable: teaching phobic people to drive, helping families cope with legal troubles, refusing to take overtime pay in her home health aide cases when families needed her.

“She tackled big broad political, social and environmental issues and also helped her neighbors get to the store to shop for groceries,” said New Paltz businesswoman Ann Rodman.

McGovern was arrested on several occasions, notably for drawing a prison cell in sidewalk chalk outside the Ulster County courthouse (she appeared six times with her pro bono attorney before then-District Attorney Michael Kavanagh dropped the case) and on another occasion for letting the air out of an SUV tire (“nonviolently and very publicly,” she noted) in an environmental protest. That time McGovern performed fifty hours of community service.

Her friends say community service was what McGovern's life was all about.

“Gale was not "political," in the sense that something was Democratic or Republican, left or right, gay or straight,” said New Paltz town justice Judith Reichler. “She did not care about these labels. If she felt someone's actions supported human dignity, she did everything possible to support them.”

McGovern's writing frequently appeared in the Hudson Valley Black Press and other local publications and a play of hers, Voices from the Closet, was produced at Ulster County BOCES, and her life is chronicled in the National Women's Hall of Fame Book of Lives and Legacies.

A memorial page has been established at the Simpson-Gaus Funeral Home's website where friends and colleagues are invited to reminisce.

Final settlement of our lawsuit...

How The City of Kingston Lost $25,000

Protesters who got booted from Kingston park get $25,000 settlement from city (video)

By PAUL KIRBY
Freeman staff
Published: Wednesday, November 16, 2011

KINGSTON — A group that claimed its constitutional rights were violated when it was kicked out of a Kingston park during a 2008 demonstration has received a $25,000 settlement from the city.

The group, Middle East Crisis Response, sued the city after police evicted members from T.R. Gallo Park during a May 4, 2008, celebration in the park to mark the 60th anniversary of Israel’s independence.

The protesters, totaling about eight people, held up signs protesting policies of the United States and Israel but did not cause an audible disturbance.

The YouTube video below, posted by Middle East Crisis Response on May 5, 2008, shows part of the clash between demonstrators and Kingston police the day before.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ZLJFxkR-84M

Chester-based Attorney Stephen Bergstein, representing Middle East Crisis Response, said the settlement was negotiated just before the case was to go to trial last month in federal court in Albany.

As part of the deal, the group also will get a meeting with newly appointed Kingston Police Chief Egidio Tinti to discuss ways “to prevent this from happening again,” Bergstein said.

Bergstein said the settlement did not include the city admitting any wrongdoing but that his client still views the settlement as a victory for free speech.

“The bedrock principle of American constitutional law is that public parks and sidewalks are free-speech zones,” Bergstein said in a prepared statement when the suit was filed. “The government cannot pick and choose which advocacy groups may use the areas and which cannot.”

Kingston Mayor James Sottile could not be reached for comment on Tuesday. In 2008, he said he supported the police department’s decision to separate the Middle East Crisis Response protesters from people participating in the Israel celebration. The mayor said police acted in the interest of public safety.

We settle our lawsuit with the city of Kingston

Here are some members of MECR who sued the city of Kingston over free speech issues. We were denied our rights in Gallo Park in 2008 and the case was resolved this Tuesday in the US District Court of Albany right before the jury was selected.

The city of Kingston agreed to pay $25,000 in damages, as well as provide a meeting with the new chief of the police. The new chief will also watch DeeDee's video of the Gallo Park police action.

Thanks to all who helped us, and especially to our lawyer, Steven Bergstein.

Fred